There once was a girl who couldn’t stop running. She ran all day and, in her dreams, she ran all night. When she found herself standing still for a brief moment her brain would command, “Run!” and off she’d go.
She ran through happy times and sad times, angry times and mellow times. Sometimes she loved the feeling of running, with the wind in her hair and a purposeful stride, completed projects falling away to the right and left of her. Other times she was so tired she could barely put one foot in front of the other, but still she pushed on.
As she grew older, the tired times became more and more frequent. One day,during the brief minute she sat down before going to bed, she asked herself, “What do I really want? What would I do if I wasn’t running?”
That night she dreamed.
In her dream she saw herself making a new life, with relaxation and play and time to enjoy all the friendly people around her. She created this life by cutting out pictures. Scene by scene, person by person, she constructed a new way to live. She was very happy and inspired.
But when she woke the next morning the clock was ticking and, with all the things she had to do that day racing through her head, she leapt from her bed and took off running. She gulped her breakfast and lunch as she ran and narrowly missed having dinner. She wondered, as she ran between her chair and the refrigerator that night: Where was her vision? Could it ever come true?
And, in the night, an answer appeared. Perhaps the Wizard could help her find a cure!
The next day she ran twice as fast so she could fit in her appointment with the Wizard. She ran up to his door and entered a dark cave-like room. A voice boomed out at her, “So, young lady, you want to stop running?”
“Yes sir,” she panted, jogging in place.
“And why is it that you run?” he asked.
“I can’t remember,” she replied.
“Well, let’s just have a look!”
She found herself sitting in a chair, with soft ties holding her in place. Her feet danced beneath her but her body, at least, was still. She could see a picture of herself on a big screen.
The Wizard had gently peeled back the top of the head on the screen and begun pulling things out of it. Here were habits and demands and requests and invitations. Multi-colored objects floated above her head, each having once been wired between her and another person but now floating free. The Wizard dug deeper into her head, snipping wires, freeing more and more objects.
With all of these out of the way, he bent over and peered deep into her mind. “Aha!” he cried. “Here it is – the Good Girl Center! Once I remove this and detach all these wires, you will be cured of running!”
The girl laughed with delight and watched as the Wizard gently closed up her head. She became aware that her feet weren’t moving. The silken bonds fell away from her chair and she tried to move her arms – but nothing happened. She was unable to control her limbs.
“What’s happening?” she cried. “Where is my drive? My motivation?”
Just as she was beginning to panic, she felt a presence behind her. Strong arms tenderly picked her up and carried her from the cave.
As she began to relax against a warm shoulder she heard the Wizard call after her, “We’ve taken away all that drove you before. Now you must rebuild from the beginning. Allow yourself to be carried and soon you’ll be able to carry yourself in the directions You want to go ... at the pace that serves You best.”
The moral of this story is: You have to stop running before you can crawl.
Bellingham, WA 2013
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